First law, American Indian studies student graduates
By Daily Bruin Staff
May 12, 2002 9:00 p.m.
NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Padraic McCoy was the
first person to graduate with a joint degree in law and American
Indian studies.
By Hilaire Fong
DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
[email protected]
On Sunday UCLA graduated the first person with a joint degree in
law and American Indian studies.
“I am ready to go out into the Indian community and put my
education to work,” said Padraic McCoy, who received his
degree during the School of Law commencement in Perloff Quad.
The joint degree is a three year law program including two years
in American Indian studies classes, which cover topics such as
cultural views of Native America and contemporary issues. Students
also submit a research-based master’s thesis in American
Indian studies and law.
“Students planning to pursue Indian law should have a
broad understanding of Indian culture as well as legal sources that
are important in this area,” said law professor and program
director Carole Goldberg in a press release.
“It’s very difficult to understand what is at stake
unless you can appreciate the historical, cultural and contemporary
issues confronting the tribe,” she said.
Students in the program learn about some of the 500 American
Indian tribes nationwide.
UCLA was the first university to approve the program and, in
1998, McCoy was the first student to enroll in it.
“The program is a major step in admitting different
students into certain communities,” McCoy said.
The joint degree has personal meaning to McCoy, who is an
American Indian from the Quechan reservation in Southern
California.
McCoy first became interested in law when his tribe had a legal
dispute with the government over American Indian gaming.
“Our history since European contact has been a history of
law,” McCoy said. “It is important for American Indian
tribes to be recognized as sovereign.”
McCoy currently works for a law firm in Washington D.C. whose
practice is only in American Indian law.
More work needs to be done in Congress instead of the courts,
McCoy said. There, he continued, more laws will be made to help
American Indian people in general.
